Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Our first egg!

We have a tiny little farm that is mostly just for our entertainment. We have goats that we could shear and make wool with, but we don't, they are just our friends. We have ducks that just waddle around and quack surprisingly loud. We do make use of our chickens.

Last year and this year we have enjoyed chicken in our freezer that we raised ourselves. We have not been brave enough to do the slaughtering on our own yet (maybe next year). They are very tasty, and it is nice to know exactly what the conditions were, what they were fed, etc. Our chickens have quite a good life right up until, well, you know.

Madeline is definitely our farm girl. The first time we picked up the broiler chicks they were tiny and cute - little yellow fuzz balls. We get in the truck and Maddie says, "Can we eat 'em now?" I said, "Honey, they are just little right now." She got this evil little grin and said, "Yeah, but there are lots of 'em!" What a funny kid!

We attempted laying hens last year, but tragedy struck, and all of them became a feast for some sort of animal - 9 in one night! The animal left us one which turned out to be a rooster. He was gorgeous, but extremely aggressive. My kids were scared to run around outside, and he eventually attacked Auriana pretty violently. We hired my Dad to shoot him (we don't do guns at our house). I wish I knew how to convert our video tapes to post the attack, because in retrospect, it was pretty darn funny.

So this year we got laying hens again. We lost 4 to an unknown attacker again, but we have 8 left, all hens (Phew). They have finally started to lay these really pretty colored eggs. They are delicious, and Maddie was so proud of the first egg. She called it her pet, and does not want us to eat it. I guess it will stay in the fridge until it goes bad.